Chapter 4 - Trauma- and stressor-related disorders

Question 1

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Answer 1

Anxiety disorder that may develop after a traumatic experience that is characterised by: (a) repeated re-experiencing of the traumatic event; (b) avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma or emotional numbing; (c) negative changes in cognition and mood; (d) increased arousal.

Question 2

Fear-conditioning

Answer 2

Process that involves pairing a fear response with factors present at the time of experiencing the fear, such that subsequent exposure to these factors triggers a fear reaction.

Question 3

Sympathetic arousal

Answer 3

Activation of the sympathetic nervous system that is responsible for increased heart rate, respiration rate and blood flow to the organs, allowing people to respond to threats.

Question 4

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)

Answer 4

Class of antidepressive drugs (such as fluoxetine) that inhibit the reuptake of serotonin.

Question 5

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)

Answer 5

Type of psychological treatment that combines both cognitive and behavioural concepts and tecjniques.

Question 6

Cognitive restructuring

Answer 6

Cognitive technique in which the client learns to identify, challenge and replace his/her dysfunctional beliefs with more realistic or helpful beliefs.

Question 7

In vivo exposure

Answer 7

Technique of behaviour therapy in which clients confront their feared objects/situations in real life (as opposed to imaginal exposure).

Question 8

Wait-list control group

Answer 8

In a treatment outcome study, group of participants that functions as a no-treatment control group while the experimental group receives the intervention.

Question 9

Random allocation

Answer 9

Assignment of participants in an experiment to groups based on a random process so that each participant has an equal chance of being allocated to the various groups; this is done in an attempt to ensure no systematic differences between the participants in each group.

Question 10

Exposure therapy

Answer 10

Behavioural technique in which the client confronts the feared stimuli s/he has avoided until his/her anxiety reduces; there are various types of exposure such as in vivo versus imaginal.

Question 11

Extinction

Answer 11

In learning theory, elimination of a classically conditioned response by removal of the unconditioned stimulus or the elimination of an operantly conditioned response by the removal of the reinforcement.

Question 12

Neural plasticity

Answer 12

The brain’s capacity to form new connections between neurons.

Question 13

Amygdala

Answer 13

Part of the brain’s limbic system that is thought to regulate emotions.

Question 14

Glutamate

Answer 14

The primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain.